Today I'm going back just one year to 2021 and my first ever visit to Brentford's brand new Community Stadium for a League Cup (or EFL Carabao Cup if you prefer) 2nd Round tie at home to Forest Green Rovers (FGR). The programme shown was something of a token effort being a single paged fold out poster as compared to the regular programme issued for Premier League games. I suppose that the club decided that sales would be down along with the attendance and, despite it being a poor effort, I suppose that at least there was a programme of sorts. The programme cover star is Brentford's former FGR player Ethan Pinnock although why he appears doing the Albanian double-headed eagle whilst running through flying steel girders is beyond me!
I was very pleased with myself for managing to get to a match at the new stadiums of both Brentford and AFC Wimbledon so early in the season. These were two brand new stadiums in the 92 (the number of clubs in the Premier and Football Leagues) and were the only two that I had not visited. My pleasure was shortly to turn to irritation however when a 92 Club purist first, congratulated me on my achievement and then, when I informed him that I had visited the likes of Barrow, Harrogate Town and Salford whilst they were still Non-League stadiums. pointedly withdrew his congratulations because, in his opinion, some of my visits somehow "didn't count". Frankly such purists get on my wick! I shall be the sole arbiter of whether I have visited all the stadiums in the 92 and I'm not interested in the criteria that others wish to use. Going back to grounds that I have previously visited simply to take in a game after the club concerned has joined the EFL isn't necessary in my opinion and I don't see the purists refusing to count FA Cup or League Cup ties when doing the 92. As I keep pointing out to fellow 92-ers, we all have our own criteria and I've met people who won't count a ground if they haven't seen a goal there for example. Ho hum!
In season 2020/21 Brentford had finally attained the financial promised land by being promoted to the Premier League. Now they were enjoying their first season of top flight football since 1947. The Saturday prior to the featured game had seen the Bees open their Premier League account with a remarkable victory over Arsenal (yay!) so this League Cup tie against FGR was only their second competitive fixture at the new stadium. I had made a point of buying a ticket and travelling down to West London for the game because it was likely to be one of the only opportunities to attend a match at the new stadium that season given that the Premier League fixtures at what is a relatively small stadium (capacity 17,250) were always likely to be sold out.
FGR are relatively new boys in Football League circles having been promoted into League 2 in 2017 and hadn't met Brentford in competitive football before. These days "the little club on the hill" in Nailsworth, Gloucestershire are known more for their owner than for being a Gloucestershire village side punching well above their weight. Dale Vince, the FGR Chairman since 2010, is famed as a green energy entrepreneur, former New Age traveller and vegan and is the founder and owner of Ecotricity. I always enjoy visiting Forest Green and find it amusing when unsuspecting carnivores try to buy a pie from the FGR food kiosk only to find that there is no alternative to the vegan option.
The featured game was played on a sultry West London night in front of 12,137 and a shock appeared to be on the cards when League 2 FGR took the lead via a goal scored by Jack Aitchison, on loan from Barnsley. FGR acquitted themselves well in that first-half but one wondered whether they'd be able to maintain the intensity of their performance in the second. On the hour mark Brentford were level with the goal coming from DR Congo international Yoane Wissa. Further Brentford goals were to follow coming from Brian Mbeuno and Finnish international Marcus Forss. FGR ended the match with ten men following the harsh sending off of Gambian international Ebou Adams but had given a good account of themselves against Premier League opposition. FGR would show that that performance was no fluke by winning League 2 come the end of the season and were promoted into the third tier of English football for the first time in their history.
Brentford's prize for beating FGR was another home tie, this time against crisis club Oldham Athletic who were vanquished 7-0 in the 3rd Round. In the 4th Round the Bees travelled to Stoke City and won 2-1 to reach the Quarter-Finals where they would come up against Chelsea. That proved to be the end of the road for Brentford as far as the Carabao Cup was concerned and they were dumped out of the competition 2-0 on their home patch. Chelsea went on to reach the Final where they eventually lost 11-10 on penalties to Liverpool after a goalless 120 minutes at Wembley.
CRB Match No. 2443
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